Who is Arsh Dalla, the lynchpin of Punjab’s terror-gangster network
A native of Dala village in Moga district, Canada-based Arshdeep Singh Gill faces 58 narco-terror cases, including 12 under the stringent UAPA, in Punjab.
The arrest of Arshdeep Singh Gill, alias Arsh Dalla, 28, a designated terrorist in India and an aide of slain Khalistan separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, for an October 28 shooting incident in Ontario, has come as a shot in the arm for Punjab Police.
A native of Dala village in Moga district, the lynchpin of the gangster-terrorist nexus in Punjab faces 58 narco-terror cases in the border state, including 12 registered under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Ironically, it was a Punjab Police assistant sub inspector (ASI) who facilitated Dalla’s flight to Canada in 2018 when he issued a false verification report based on which the gangster got a passport. Though the ASI’s services were terminated, the damage had been done. Before fleeing to Canada, Dalla faced six criminal cases, including one for attempt to murder in Barnala.
Humble beginnings to wanted gangster
According to Punjab Police, Dalla got married to a Canadian citizen in 2018 and the couple has a daughter. While three maternal aunts and a paternal aunt of Dalla also live in Canada, his father Charanjit Singh is jailed in Sangrur on charges of extortion and his mother, Sukhwinder Kaur, continues to stay in the family’s native village of Dala in Moga district.
Last year, Dalla’s younger brother Baldeep Singh Gill, who was out on bail, tried to flee to Canada on a fake passport but was sent back. Baldeep had been released on bail in November 2022 in an attempt to murder case. He, however, managed to fly to Australia using forged documents. Baldeep is involved in ransom collection and has several FIRs registered against him. He has been lying low since he fled in January last year.
Dalla’s grandfather and father were farmers and both had been elected sarpanches of the village. He had studied in the government school at the village till Class 10 and passed Class 12 from a school in Moga town.
The first case registered against Dalla was for an attempt to murder in Barnala district in January 2016, when he was 19 years old. He was declared a proclaimed offender in the case.
Stepping into Nijjar’s shoes
It’s from Delta in British Columbia, Canada, that Dalla expanded his organised crime network in Punjab and got involved in terror activities, cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons on a large scale. He operates his network that is spread across Canada, the US, Dubai, Europe, the Philippines, Thailand, West Asia and Pakistan that spans continents through cross-border fundings and extortion.
In January 2023, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) designated Dalla an individual terrorist given his association with the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). The MHA termed him a close associate of Nijjar, a designated terrorist whose killing in Surrey on June 18, 2023, is at the centre of strained ties between India and Canada.
“Dalla runs terror modules on behalf of Nijjar and is involved in heinous crimes, such as murder, extortion and targeted killings, besides terror activities and is also involved in terror financing, cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons on a large scale,” reads the MHA notification.
Following Nijjar’s death, Dalla took charge of the KTF, which was set up by former Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist Jagtar Singh Tara in 2011. Tara was involved in the assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995.
Rivalry with Lawrence Bishnoi gang
According to the NIA chargesheet, Dalla operates the terror-gangster network along with Canada-based gangster Gaurav Patial, alias Saurav Thakur, and his operations are supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Dalla is involved in smuggling weapons from Pakistan to Punjab using drones. He has carried out terror activities in collaboration with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
He allegedly orchestrated the brutal killing of a Hindu youngster in Jahangirpuri area of New Delhi earlier this year and released a video of beheading by his sleeper cell network.
In Canada, Dalla’s gang has been involved in clashes with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang with whom he has a long-standing rivalry. In 2023, the Bishnoi gang reportedly broke into the Winnipeg home of Sukhdul Singh, alias Sukha Dunike, a close associate of Dalla, and shot him dead.
The October 28 firing in which Dalla has been arrested is also said to be the fallout of a clash with the Goldy Brar group, led by Bishnoi.
Punjab crime file
Punjab Police sources say that Dalla had illegally visited his village via Nepal in 2020. “While probing a murder, we found Dalla returned for a short stay at his village in Moga two years after fleeing the country. He was involved in the murder of gangster Sukha Lamme in June that year. His criminal activities increased in 2021 after that visit,” a police officer said, requesting anonymity.
Three activists of the KTF were caught for killing Lamme in 2021.
Dalla masterminded several killings, including the recent murder of Faridkot Sikh activist Gurpreet Singh Hari Nau besides the murder of a garment shop owner in Moga in 2020, the killing of a prominent dera follower, Manohar Lal, who was a part of the 25-member committee of Dera Sacha Sauda and also the father of Jatinderbir Singh Jimmy, an accused in the Gurusar sacrilege incident in 2020.
He was also part of a foiled plan to kill Dera Sacha Sauda follower Shakti Singh, who is an accused in three cases registered in connection with the Bargari sacrilege in 2021. The murder of a store owner, Tejinder Singh Pinka, was masterminded by Dalla in 2020. In October 2023, Congress block president Baljinder Singh Bali was also killed on his instructions.